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About Us

Leila:

My work began about 2-3 years ago. I've always been interested in helping people, talking to them, and lending an ear. I can't count the number of times I've been blessed enough to have a stranger share with me their personal journey. It wasn't until my third year of university that I realized I wanted not so much to stand up for, but to stand with those who felt invisible or unheard. I eventually stumbled into the Women's Centre on campus where I learned of a group running a sexual assault support line. What began as an extra-curricular activity soon grew into a passion.

Initially I had started a blog called A Story of Growth and Reflection to share these experiences with the world. Now here I am, someone who has found myself involved with a wide variety of organizations around the city, both on a voluntary and employment basis. I've supported people who have survived sexual assault, people with addictions, people who self harm, those living with anxiety/depression, men, women, and people of different sexual identities and orientations. I love being there for people and welcome you as a reader to drop me a line if you ever need to talk.

Barry:

My story began following a car accident I had in April of 2008. Though this was a split second event, for some reason it would prove to be a turning point in my life. Over the following three months I healed physically, but emotionally I felt a void in my life as I battled Post Traumatic Stress and mild depression. This would eventually be filled by reaching out to people through my first blog Life in Quotations. As people started to connect with my writing I began forming relationships with others who were going through their own challenging life experiences. Through this I gained strength and a realization that this is the direction I wanted my life to move in.

I rediscovered my love for writing and with encouragement of some friends, wrote my first book. More importantly, the conversations I had with readers off my blog gave me first hand understanding of the issues some people are facing. This sparked an interest in psychology, which has allowed me to look more deeply into serious issues such as depression, eating disorders, bullying, self harm etc. I'm open to any topic of conversation, and would love to hear from you.